By a Staff Reporter
Kathmandu – Nepal faced a heart-wrenching defeat against Test Nation Ireland by 2 wickets in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers. With this loss, Nepal’s World Cup qualifying journey came to an end, finishing in eighth place among the ten participating nations.
Invited to bat first at the Takashinga Sports Club, Nepal managed to post a competitive total of 268 runs with one wicket in hand in the scheduled 50 overs.
Nepal’s Seventeen-year-old batting all-rounder Gulsan Jha played a phenomenal inning, scoring an unbeaten 57 runs off just 42 deliveries. Despite opener Kushal Bhurtel’s early departure for 8 runs, Arjun Saud fell agonizingly short of his half-century by just 2 runs.
Gyanendra Malla 7, Rohit Paudel 29, Bhim Sharki 20, Kushal Malla 44, Sandeep Lamichhane chipped in with 32, and Karan KC contributed 4 runs to the total. While Dipendra Singh Airee was dismissed for a duck, Gulsan Jha and Kishore Mahato* (1) remained unbeaten.
Ireland’s Mark Adir, Barry McCarthy, and Craig Young claimed two wickets each, while Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, and Andy McBrine dismissed one Nepali batter each.
In the chase, Ireland successfully reached the target of 269 runs, losing 8 wickets in 49.2 overs. Nepal came tantalizingly close to victory but faltered in the final over, ultimately resulting in their defeat.
Curtis Campher played a vital inning for Ireland, scoring the highest runs of 62, closely followed by Harry Tector with 60 runs.
Nepal’s pacer Karan KC was the standout performer among the Nepali bowlers, claiming an impressive 4-58 in his allotted 10 overs, including 1 maiden over. Additionally, Kishore Mahato picked up 2 wickets, while Gulsan Jha and Sandeep Lamichhane each took a wicket.
With this result, Nepal concludes the qualifiers in eighth place out of the ten participating nations. In Group A, Nepal finished fourth with 3 losses and 1 win from 4 matches, ultimately resulting in their elimination.
